New Publisher at 'Napa Valley Register'

By: (AP) Brenda Speth, publisher of the Corvallis Gazette-Times, has been named publisher of the Napa Valley Register in Northern California.

Both papers are owned by Lee Enterprises.

The Napa Valley Register is among 14 daily newspapers that Lee added last month in its acquisition of Pulitzer Inc.

Publisher of the Gazette-Times since 2001, Speth began her new duties on July 6.

Martha Wells - publisher of another Lee newspaper, the Albany Democrat-Herald - will serve as interim publisher at the Corvallis paper until a successor is chosen.

Speth is a 21-year veteran of Lee Enterprises.

A journalism graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, she began her professional newspaper career in 1984 as a sales consultant at Madison Newspapers Inc. She advanced to advertising manager there in 1991, and in 1995 became retail advertising manager and later advertising director at the Rapid City Journal in South Dakota.

Lee Enterprises, which is based in Davenport, Iowa, owns 52 daily newspapers and has a joint interest in six others. Lee also operates online services and more than 300 weekly newspapers, shoppers and classified and specialty publications.

The Napa Valley Register has a daily circulation of more than 18,000, compared to about 12,500 for the Gazette-Times.